Tre Cool
Tré Cool (also known as The Snoo) (born Frank Edwin Wright III on December 9, 1972, age 38) is a German-born American drummer for the rock band Green Day. He replaced the band's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990. He has also played in Samiam, The Lookouts, and the Green Day side projects The Network and Foxboro Hot Tubs. edit] Life and career Frank Edwin Wright III was born in Frankfurt, West Germany. He lived in Willits, California with his father and his older sister, Lori. His father, a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, decided to move the family there to insulate them upon his return to the United States.2 Wright's closest neighbor was Larry Livermore, who at the time was the singer of the punk band The Lookouts. When Wright was 12, Livermore recruited him to join The Lookouts and gave him the name of Tre Cool,2 relying on both the French word très (meaning very)3 combined with the word ''cool''. However, the silent "s" has been dropped in the spelling, as a play on the "third" in his name. A common misconception is that Larry Livermore gave Tre Cool his full nickname; however, Cool was known as Tre long before he was a part of The Lookouts, and the accent over the e'' is credited by Livermore as a Wikipedia mistake.4 Cool's father, who owned a small company, overhauled a bookmobile and even served as the driver on three separate tours. "I watched them go from a bunch of kids to a group of musicians with work ethic," he later recalled. "On their first tour or two, it was more of a party than anything else. I still scratch my head and say, 'How in the hell did they make it?' They used to practice in my living room here - a lot of the songs they did on Dookie. You hear it coming together, and you don't expect people are going to go out and buy it. But when it does, you just say, 'Wow that's so cool.'"5 When Green Day's drummer, John Kiffmeyer, left the band they recruited Cool to play drums. Cool decided to drop out of high school in his sophomore year. Instead, he passed an equivalency test and earned his GED, and began taking classes at a nearby community college. He had to drop out of college, however, when the demands of Green Day's touring intensified.2 In 1998, after Green Day won a "Moon Man" Trophy at the MTV Music Awards, Tré Cool famously scaled the Universal globe at Universal studios, but escaped with no punishment - only compliments and cheers. Cool has been the only person to ever do so.6 Cool was once notorious for burning his drum kit, on stage, upon completion of every set on the "Warning" tour. He also has a tradition that if he cracks a cymbal during a concert, he gives it away at the end. edit] Personal life In January 1995, Cool's daughter Ramona Isabell was born to girlfriend Lisea Lyons. Lisea and Cool were married in March of the same year, but divorced some time later. In May 2000, Cool married his girlfriend Claudia Suarez, and their son Frankito was born in 2001. Cool and Claudia split up in 2003. He has also been linked to Torry Castellano, the drummer of The Donnas, but they have since broken up.2 edit] Singing and songwriting Cool sings and plays guitar on the tracks "Dominated Love Slave" and "All by Myself", from ''Kerplunk and Dookie, respectively, both of which he wrote and composed (on Dominated Love Slave, regular guitarist and vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong plays the drums). He wrote and sang the subtrack "Rock and Roll Girlfriend" from the medley "Homecoming" featured on the album American Idiot. He also sang and composed the track "DUI" ("Driving Under the Influence"), which was recorded during the Nimrod sessions and was due to be released on Shenanigans (a compilation of B-sides), but it was omitted and can only be found online. During a radio interview at Washington DC's alternative station DC 101, Cool sang and played the guitar to a short song titled "Like a Rat does Cheese," a song about the pleasure of fellatio. This song was acoustic. Several live tracks also exist, usually from around 1993, such as "Food Around the Corner," a song from the 1943 Elmer Fudd cartoon An Itch in Time. Another live track, "Billie Joe's Mom" was also recorded. Cool had also recorded a version of Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain." It was posted on YouTube on August 2, 2007. His cover was mentioned in several news journals.7 edit] Discography Green Day *''Kerplunk!'' (1992) -- drums, guitar and vocals on "Dominated Love Slave" *''Dookie'' (1994) -- drums, guitar and vocals on "All by Myself" *''Insomniac'' (1995) -- drums *''Nimrod'' (1997) -- drums *''Warning'' (2000) -- drums *''American Idiot'' (2004) -- drums, vocals on "Rock and Roll Girlfriend" *''21st Century Breakdown'' (2009) -- drums The Network *''Money Money 2020'' (2003) -- drums *''Omega 3000'' (TBA) Foxboro Hot Tubs *''Stop Drop and Roll!!!'' (2008) -- drums Other media appearances *''King of the Hill'' (TV Series - 1997) - Cane Skretteberg *''Riding in Vans with Boys'' (Film - 2003) - himself *''Live Freaky! Die Freaky!'' (Film - 2006) *''The Simpsons Movie'' (Film - 2007) - himself *''Bullet in a Bible'' (Film - 2008) - himself *''Green Day: Rock Band'' (Video Game - 2010) - himself edit] Equipment Cool has used the drums of different companies. He currently uses Leedy drums and Zildjian cymbals. In the past, Cool has used drums built by DW (Drum Workshop), Ayotte, Slingerland, Sherwood and Ludwig Drum kit: Leedy Custom Maple Set in White Marine Nitron with Remo Drumheads *16"×22" Bass drum with a Clear Powerstroke 3 *9"×13"(sometimes 10"x14") Tom with a Coated Emperor on batter and Clear Ambassador on reso *16"×16" Floor Tom with a Coated Emperor on batter and Clear Ambassador on reso *16"×18" Floor Tom with a Coated Emperor on batter and Clear Ambassador on reso *6.5"×14" Leedy Broadway Standard Snare with a Coated Emperor x on batter and hazy snare side Ambassador Cymbals: Zildjian *14" K/Z Special Hi-hats *19" K Dark Thin Crash *19" A Medium Thin Crash *22" A Ping Ride *19" K Crash Ride (Used as Crash) *20" FX Oriental Classic China (Tre has used the 20" but in the later shows of the 21st Century Breakdown Tour, He can be seen using the 22 Inch) His AI Studio configuration of his cymbals can be viewed at Zildjian's website: http://configurator.zildjian.com/en-US/products/configurator/default.ad2?artistID=2638 but the listed equipment above are the exact equipment he uses. Drumsticks: Zildjian Tré Cool Signature